EXCITING NEWS: TNG WhatsApp Channel is LIVE…
Subscribe for FREE to get LIVE NEWS UPDATE. Click here to subscribe!
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has denied it incurred a deficit of N17 billion, spending N35.2 billion on personnel and consultancy fees.
TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports this is contained in a statement released on Tuesday by Reuben Muoka, NCC’s Director of Public Affairs.
According to the statement, a report of the Commission incurring a N17 billion deficit because of expenditures on personnel and consultancy fees is far from the truth.
“Though the Statement of the Financial Performance of the Commission for the period ended December 2021, clearly indicates that the sum of N17.3bn was a “Surplus/(Deficit) retained for the period)”, this does not imply that the Commission incurred a cash deficit as the expenditure in its financials were both in cash and accruals applicable to the year.
“If the publication had inquired of the constituents of our expenditure, it would have learnt that the expenditures for the year 2021 included accruals for items undergoing procurement at the end of the year, like the State Accelerated Broadband Initiative, SABI, being implemented by the Commission, which was standing in the sum of about N24bn in the financial report.
“The Commission also remitted an Operating Surplus/Spectrum Fees of estimated N197.7bn to the Federal Government, under the same Financial Performance Reporting period, and had a bank balance of about N46.97bn, erasing any doubt that there was any deficit spending.
“The Commission, therefore, disclaims the wrong impression created by the above headline, and subsequent misinterpretation of our financial report in the publication may have had in the minds of the public, and stakeholders,” the statement reads.
Meanwhile, NCC reiterated its commitment to effective and transparent processes in all its regulatory, management and financial activities.